Rockan Robin, pure monk build and philosophy

[Anthios888]

Your build lists 15 hitpoints from Patient Tortoise, but you only have enhancements for 2 ranks, which gives 10 hps.

Looking closer, you never specified the purchase of prerequisite enhancements; you have:

Adept of Wind without Disciple of Breezes
Adept of Rock without Disciple of Pebbles
Adept of Rain without Disciple of Puddles

You cannot take Master of Stone, due to 14 con (requires 16) and running out of AP.
You cannot take Way of the Patient Tortoise 3, due to running out of AP.

I did not take Way of the Patient Tortoise III, because I opted for Monk Improved Recovery III instead. I have adjusted my HP calculations to reflect the 5 fewer HP I have since I changed action points. My builds are dynamic and I respec them often to gain every advantage -- as I encourage all builders to do. I do my best to keep the pages updated as the game changes, and appropriate for newer players, but sometimes 5 HP is just going to slip through. In fact, when I recalculated, I was actually low 5 HP instead of over 5 HP.

That said, the rest of what you stipulated is incorrect.

• Disciple of Breezes, Pebbles, and Puddles are now granted free to all monks as of the last update. Please consult the compendium for verification that these are now free level 1 monk feats.
• Any build with 14 base con can qualify for Master of Stone with a +2 con tome.
• There is no shortage of action points in enhancements breakdown. See the math below.

2 Enhancement: Monk Serenity
2 Enhancement: Halfling Dexterity I
4 Enhancement: Halfling Dexterity II
1 Enhancement: Halfling Cunning I
2 Enhancement: Halfling Cunning II
3 Enhancement: Halfling Cunning III
4 Enhancement: Halfling Cunning IV
1 Enhancement: Halfling Guile I
2 Enhancement: Halfling Guile II
3 Enhancement: Halfling Guile III
4 Enhancement: Halfling Guile IV
1 Enhancement: Halfling Hero's Companion I
2 Enhancement: Halfling Hero's Companion II
1 Enhancement: Halfling Luck (Reflex) I
1 Enhancement: Halfling Luck (Will) I
1 Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortiose I
2 Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortiose II
2 Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery I
4 Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery II
6 Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery III
1 Enhancement: Void Strike
1 Enhancement: Unbalancing Strike
2 Enhancement: Adept of Wind
3 Enhancement: Master of Thunder
2 Enhancement: Adept of Rock
3 Enhancement: Master of Stone
2 Enhancement: Adept of Rain
3 Enhancement: Master of Sea
1 Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
2 Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
2 Enhancement: Monk Wisdom I
4 Enhancement: Monk Wisdom II
6 Enhancement: Monk Wisdom III
= 80 action points

[Barazon]

• Any build with 14 base con can qualify for Master of Stone with a +2 con tome.

You're right, and at the same time that you were verifying your AP count, I was editing my post because I realized I had used out-of-date information about the Disciple ranks. However, your original breakdown lists 14 starting con and a +1 tome, yet takes Master of Stone. I think you said you had updated the build to not require +3 tomes, but missed the fact that a +1 con tome doesn't allow for the 3rd rank of stone.

Sorry for the confusion and the outdated info in my first post.

[ArtosKincaid]

So I found these handwraps that look like they'd be awesome for a good chunk of trash mobs...+4 Vicious Handwraps of Weighted 4%. The problem is, they're RR Drow and require a 26 UMD to use. Is it actually feasible to get my UMD that high without having to get a bunch of buffs from other characters with a starting CHA of 8 and a ton of hard to get items?

My math on UMD:
+11 ranks
+3 Cha (8 base +2 tome +6 item)
+6 Cha skills item
+3 Vile Blasphemy (I have no idea how hard this is actually is to get, but I put it in figuring I'd be running Abbot forever for Litany anyway)
=23

I know that I could use them with Greater Heroism up, but I don't want to count on having that all the time because this is a character I'd like to be able to solo farm stuff with easily. I figured the healing boost from the Path of Light bonuses would completely counteract any negative effects from the Vicious procs.

I was already an idiot and put Icy Burst on them, cause well...I had enough Icy Bursts to do it :P

Did I waste a recipe 5 or can I make this work?

[Anthios888]

So I found these handwraps that look like they'd be awesome for a good chunk of trash mobs...+4 Vicious Handwraps of Weighted 4%. The problem is, they're RR Drow and require a 26 UMD to use. Is it actually feasible to get my UMD that high without having to get a bunch of buffs from other characters with a starting CHA of 8 and a ton of hard to get items?

My math on UMD:
+11 ranks
+3 Cha (8 base +2 tome +6 item)
+6 Cha skills item
+3 Vile Blasphemy (I have no idea how hard this is actually is to get, but I put it in figuring I'd be running Abbot forever for Litany anyway)
=23

I know that I could use them with Greater Heroism up, but I don't want to count on having that all the time because this is a character I'd like to be able to solo farm stuff with easily. I figured the healing boost from the Path of Light bonuses would completely counteract any negative effects from the Vicious procs.

I was already an idiot and put Icy Burst on them, cause well...I had enough Icy Bursts to do it :P

Did I waste a recipe 5 or can I make this work?

Sounds like you've got to keep GH up. I'd keep an eye out for a 5% handwraps and farm yourself another icy burst. I don't normally mind vicious, but monks are pretty bad at healing themselves so I usually only use it on boss fights.

[ArtosKincaid]

Good to know, thanks. I did manage to farm...well...several, so I'm not incredibly upset. I have a holy burst of...something that I icy burst'd already so that'll do assuming I can't find something else awesome before the end of the Ice Games.

Another semi-random monk question - right now, I can use pure good handwraps on my lawful neutral monk without UMD. I'm assuming this is a bug and I should run Delera's now while I can still use it?

[Eurytos]

So a friend of mine told me about this build so I figured I'd check it out. Immediately when I started looking at it you mentioned you wanted max stunning fist and QP DCs so you went max wisdom. Then I went on to see you included weighted 10 for stunning fist DC.

Not sure if this was mentioned in the 9 pages because I honestly only read the original thread, but weighted does not affect stunning fist DC. (While typing this, I realize it may simply be a display bug on the ability mouse over and will do some in game testing to confirm.) Also, 32DC on QP isn't going to land on anything level 20. Not enough to sacrifice other stats for a 1/20 chance on otherwise easy to kill enemies when using conventional methods.

If in fact weighted 5% does affect stunning fist DC, then you have a solid build on your hands... but if it doesn't, nothing is going to fail a save on a 32 fortitude save.

Also, I must ask why you feel spending 3 AP for 10 hit points is better than +3 flanking to hit, or +ki on criticals (especially nice for a stun build like yours.)

Another thing, I noticed you have no grandmaster stances in your enhancement setup. Again sacrificing monks already low average DPS and reducing attack speed slightly in wind stance.

[Impatiens]

My math on UMD:
+11 ranks
+3 Cha (8 base +2 tome +6 item)
+6 Cha skills item
+3 Vile Blasphemy (I have no idea how hard this is actually is to get, but I put it in figuring I'd be running Abbot forever for Litany anyway)
=23

+1 (or 2) luck bonus from voice of the master or head of good fortune
+2 from walk of the sun
=26 or 27

You can also go with +3 from the golden cartouche which is much much easier to get than Vile Blasphemy. Remember you only need to have that 26 UMD when you first equip the item. Your UMD can drop below 26 after the item is equipped and it will stay on you, you'll just have to rebuff if you take it off and need to put it back on. There are also the +5 UMD gloves from Titan, but those are proably even more annoying to get than Vile Blasphemy.

[Impatiens]

Another semi-random monk question - right now, I can use pure good handwraps on my lawful neutral monk without UMD. I'm assuming this is a bug and I should run Delera's now while I can still use it?

I believe it has something to do with wraps being coded to enchant the monk rather than as weapons themselves. It's been this way for a while and there's no indication that it's going to be changed any time soon.

[SickCat]

So, not sure if it was posted already...but they fixed handwraps with 5% weighted!!! They FRIGGIN REMOVED ANY MENTION OF STUNNING FIST FROM THE TOOLTIP! No clue if they plan on REALLY fixing it, but for now, they're not going to add anything to stunning fist.

[maddmatt70]

I think it is worth noting that the Op reincarnated this build into a 12 fighter 8 monk strength based build. In the current epic and end game climate strength based for virtually every build that melees makes sense to me. Perhaps a rogue build that is worried about to-hit or is designed to be an epic trap monkey build are exceptions.

[Quijonsith]

Regarding UMD, I have:

11 Ranks
+3 from Cha (8 base, +2 tome, +6 item = 16Cha)
+3 Golden Cartouche
+1 Voice of the Master
+2 Heroism Clicky from nightforge armbands (or can use heroism scrolls)
+6 Cha skills GS helmet
+2 Walk of the Sun
=28 Self Buffed

[Anthios888]

Hey all, I just wanted to add an errata on the dragontouched armor selection for this build. I recommended a pair of robes with +4 insight and a Destruction, so that you could swap between them freely.

Destruction does not apply correctly to handwraps from dragontouched robe effects (or items like breastplate of destruction). Goki on Ghallanda tested this thoroughly today and saved me a lot of time. Crippling and Smiting as well as the slicing from the Ravager Set are also not currently working for unarmed monks.

In lieu of this item, something like Radiance Guard (if you didn't craft it like I did), Sundering Ooze Guard, Disintegration Guard, Earthgrab Guard, or Tharne's Wrath (-20% hate) or would all be nice robes.

[Hjarki]

Regarding UMD, I have:

11 Ranks
+3 from Cha (8 base, +2 tome, +6 item = 16Cha)
+3 Golden Cartouche
+1 Voice of the Master
+2 Heroism Clicky from nightforge armbands (or can use heroism scrolls)
+6 Cha skills GS helmet
+2 Walk of the Sun
=28 Self Buffed

Walk of the Sun and Heroism are both morale bonuses, so they shouldn't stack.

[valorik]

Walk of the Sun and Heroism are both morale bonuses, so they shouldn't stack.

they changed walk of the sun to a monk type bonus so it stacks with everything

[Quijonsith]

they changed walk of the sun to a monk type bonus so it stacks with everything

Indeed. I couldn't imagine walk of the sun being a morale bonus and not stacking with heroism, it would totally make that buff useless in mid-high level groups and especially raids. Besides all this, the numbers I posted are my actual bonuses and my actual total UMD when I'm using it (another +2 if greater heroism like being in amrath) as per my character sheet.

[valorik]

I think it is worth noting that the Op reincarnated this build into a 12 fighter 8 monk strength based build. In the current epic and end game climate strength based for virtually every build that melees makes sense to me. Perhaps a rogue build that is worried about to-hit or is designed to be an epic trap monkey build are exceptions.

Having grouped with the op on this build a few times on epic I can tell you that I doubt she reincarnated because she felt she was uneffective in epic content.

[maddmatt70]

Having grouped with the op on this build a few times on epic I can tell you that I doubt she reincarnated because she felt she was uneffective in epic content.

Oh I do not doubt you are correct. It is more a question of should somebody roll up this 12 fighter 8 monk str build or a 20 monk wis build right now? How about a 20 str monk vs. a 20 wis monk. At the current time I would say the str builds are all better.

[techguru]

What would be the disadvantages for this build as a warforged?

What would be lost?

[Anthios888]

What would be the disadvantages for this build as a warforged?

What would be lost?

Stat points are extremely tight, because you don't get the bonus to dex and you get -2 wis (putting you at least 2 DCs and at least as much AC behind). I wouldn't personally make a wisdom-based warforged monk, but it wouldn't be bad, per-se. You also lose the 8 damage / swing in sneak attacks. Warforged gain power attack enhancements and some immunities (although keep in mind that a halfling has most of those by virtue of being monk). A WF Rockan Robin would be fine -- especially if what you're looking for is a warforged dps and stunner with good ac, but you might consider a slightly different focus if you're set on being a warforged for whatever reason.

[techguru]

Thanks for the quick reply.. I currently have a couple of 20s and have never played a warforged or monk and thought it might be cool to get some experience with both.. this char would mainly be used to play with static people in my guild that are currently all warforged.

As a warforged what should the starting stats be?

Or should I find another class besides monk to try out a warforged?

Stat points are extremely tight, because you don't get the bonus to dex and you get -2 wis (putting you at least 2 DCs and at least as much AC behind). I wouldn't personally make a wisdom-based warforged monk, but it wouldn't be bad, per-se. You also lose the 8 damage / swing in sneak attacks. Warforged gain power attack enhancements and some immunities (although keep in mind that a halfling has most of those by virtue of being monk). A WF Rockan Robin would be fine -- especially if what you're looking for is a warforged dps and stunner with good ac, but you might consider a slightly different focus if you're set on being a warforged for whatever reason.